Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Painful

Derek Jeter showed clear signs of injury last night. For some reason, though, Yankee announcer Ken Singleton refused to acknowledge it. I'm not blaming Jeter for getting injured or anything like that. It just seemed odd that Singleton either didn't notice or didn't want to admit it, even with fellow dunderhead Bobby Murcer trying to point it out right next to him.

First, Jeter was shown limping home. Singleton was ready for the replay of Derek scoring. As it played, he started to give the usual spiel about Jeter's hustle. He got confused when Jeter just kept jogging, clearly in minor agony. "And...you see Jeter....well, he usually runs a lot faster than that on the bases." Murcer (who had to read the disclaimer, since Kay was on one of his many vacations, which is always fun, since "reedin'" isn't one of Bobby's strong suits) mentioned Jeter's sore back, but Singleton ignored him.

Later, they showed a replay of Jeter running to first from the head-on angle, much like the shot of Mark Teixeira look-alike Anthony Keidis in the "Under the Bridge" video, minus the visible nipple-bouncing. The look on Derek's face was a painful one. Okay, that confirms it, he's hurting, right? Nope. Singleton: "And there you see that drive in the face of Derek Jeter." Something like that.

I was watching the late Red Sox game by the time Jeter left the game. Maybe at that point Singleton finally admitted there was an actual injury. Derek's in the lineup tonight, so maybe the guy will never figure it out.

Tonight, Curt Schilling goes against the Athletics. And what does that mean? Bad news for the Athletics! Last night I got the A's channel. They played "Red Skies At Night" by the Fixx, and their announcers were fine. Not a huge deal if I get them tonight, but rooting for NESN, of course.

We totally won't get NESN; I'm pretty sure we only get the home coverage. Sucks, but whatever. If I recall, the Oakland announcers are pretty non-descript. I'm just mad that on MLB.TV we don't get the local commercials anymore; we get silence and ads for MLB propaganda. I miss the Carl's Jr commercials from the Lefty coasty and of course Marty's RVs on NESN.

Definitely not the rule, re: home coverage, for Extra Innings. I was actually just being lazy, but now I've checked the schedule at getbaseball.com, and it is the A's channel tonight, but tomorrow afternoon it's NESN. They put it out a month or two in advance, but I usually just let it be a surprise.